Went on a hardtail ride with a mate and had Small Block 8’s on which were superb to start with as the trails were mostly dry.

Was totally loving them even in some loose mud. I even commented to my mate how good they felt. Well right until we hit some sticky clay mud which immediately filled the tread and stuck like glue. This was immediately followed by a fairly fast descent where the trail was fairly over grown. Was having great fun right up to the point I lost the front on a hidden mud patch and went flying.

Over confidence is a dangerous thing (both in your own ability and also in fast rolling tyres).

erm…been riding long?

I forgot to mention there had been a pub stop………….

I’m a big fan of the smallblock, it’s a great tyre. Just, not on the front, is all.

neninja – Member
I forgot to mention there had been a pub stop………….

You sure it was the tyre’s fault ❓ 🙂

great tyre, but only ever on the back – nice with something like an x-king on the front

I stuck them on my sons bike, better he learns young how to deal with slides 😉

I binned my FS badly last year when one let go on Cannocks Monkey trail, so know only too well of their limitations. Doesn’t stop me using them though. They are great if they suit the conditions.

I race the clunker dh race on big apples, a slick, it teaches you to drift, slide, bleed and appreciate tyres like the small block.

Small Block 8s? Pah. They’re like tractor tyres compared with these babies

(ace on the rear, no way would I use one up front though)

I was toying with the idea of a pair recently

Then I remembered where I lived

wot binners said.

You just don’t get your moneys worth out of summer tyres round here. Mud specific tyres tho, now there’s a worthy investment.

I rode DMR motos (less girpy than a small block) for a couple of years, front and back. I bought them as commuting tyres but they had such a good big volume fast rolling feel I ended up leaving them on all the time. Massively improved my riding as they would lose grip consistently and reliably at the first sign of trouble you learn to anticipate it and correct and balance things out. I have moved on to X Kings now which are a similar beast but with more grip and better quality.

small block 8s are ace, front and back. They’re even better when they’re a couple of years old and worn down a bit. I’ve had my fastest times when using those on the Giant XTC.

I will never use they again. Really thin sidewalls and one exploded on me when I was doing the Kielder 100 last year. That was one long cold and wet walk to Newcastleton.

Ardent. It answers all prayers except for full mud..

I’ve got some small block 8.
lovely summer tyres.

plus at the moment they look great hung up in the garage

I always think of SB8s as more of a Dirt jumpy sumer tire like Moto RTs or K-Rads, great on flowy hardpack and dry trails, not really one for the mud though…

SB8 are awesome!
I run one with a worn out race king on the back – super fast!
Just needs good strong core and reactions of a cat.

Obviously it helps if you are sober :/

not one for the mud, but IMHO SB8s are pretty ace for trail centres/summer riding

I’ve raced xc on SB8’s all year and they’ve been great. Apart from at Dalby. And hylands. And SITs…

Running sb8 rear and slant6 front, been great over the past few weeks of dry weather on SDW.

Great tyres the small block 8s but you have to know their limitatoins.

Clearly not great for mud (especially clay)

Another issue we found out last year during a descent of Mulhacen in Sierra Nevada, Spain is that the side walls on the middle size are laughably thin. We had about 20 punctures between 6 of us!

If we ever have another summer I’ll be looking forward to putting them back on again